AUSTIN, Texas — Fort Worth-based American Airlines says “an error” was made in a court filing this week that blamed a 9-year-old girl for allegedly being secretly recorded in an airplane’s bathroom by a flight attendant.
The court filing alleged that the girl should have known the airplane toilet contained a recording device.
“Defendant would show that any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were proximately caused by Plaintiff’s own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by Plaintiff’s use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible or illuminated recording device,” the court filing read.
Following online backlash following Tuesday coverage of the filing's language, American Airlines has since said the filing was made in “error.”
“Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing,” the airline said in a statement on Wednesday. “The included defense is not representative our airline, and we have directed it be amended this morning. We do not believe this child is at fault, and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously.”
The lawsuits against American Airlines began after a now-former flight attendant was arrested for allegedly recording a 14-year-old girl in an airplane bathroom during a flight from Charlotte to Boston in September 2023.
Estes Carter Thompson III also allegedly had recordings of four other girl passengers in his possession -- including one of the 9-year-old Texas girl at the center of this week's filing, who was allegedly recorded during a flight from Austin to Los Angeles. Estes was later indicted on a complaint of attempted sexual exploitation of children and another count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor in this case. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in a federal courtroom in Boston Monday.
An attorney for the 9-year-old girl’s family called American Airlines’ filing “both shocking and outrageous.”
“To blame a 9-year-old for being filmed while using the airplane bathroom is both shocking and outrageous," lawyer Paul Llewellyn of Lewis & Llewellyn LP said in a statement. "In my opinion, this is a depraved legal strategy that sinks to a new low. American Airlines should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.”
The mother of the 9-year-old also issued a statement.
"Instead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed,” the statement read. “How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.”
Llewellyn also called American Airlines’ assertion that the filing was done in error “not credible.”
“American Airlines has clearly faced intense media and public backlash over their blaming of a 9-year-old for being filmed," Llewellyn's statement read. "To claim that they filed the 'wrong' Answer is simply not credible. But the bell cannot be unwrung. They should never have taken such a position in the first place."